Fae Day

I have more to say about the Station Access price increase, but I'll save that for tomorrow as this news is fairly recent.

Via EQ2-Daily's always excellent news aggregator, we have this SOE E3 preview from Next Generation. Be sure to check it out.

Adventure Pack: The name is "The Fallen Dynasty" and the theme is Asian influenced. It sounds like it will be as least as robust as Splitpaw. "Veteran players will get to explore seven new areas, visit a new village, explore a new dungeon – there’s even talk of a forsaken city." There will obviously be new quests and items as well.

I like the idea of an Asian theme, which seems popular of late (Guild Wars Factions). It will cover the 55 to 70 level range which may upset some lower level players. But I can tell you from experience that some max-level players are beginning to get burnt-out on KoS and could use some new content. I hope SOE continues to add more KoS content, as they have with the two new raid zones (it could use a few more solo quests as well). But an adventure pack for high level ranges would be nice.

I know some lower level players will be disappointed that the pack does not have anything for their level range. But as I've said before, there are issues with spreading the population out too much over too many zones. Even if you disagree with that statement, you will be happy to hear the expansion does have content for all levels.

Expansion: Named "Echoes of Faydwer," which is really not a surprise to anyone, the expansion will provide content for all levels and introduce a new playable race, the Fae. It will also have "twenty new zones, forty new creatures, 350 quests."

There are things you would expect like new items, skills, guild levels and housing options. There is also a mention of subclass specific Achievements, which would be very nice. I didn't see any mention of raising the level cap. The preview mentions "castles rife with vampires and neat arboreal cities."

So there you have it. I would say the introduction of a new race is probably the biggest news there. I'm sure we'll get more details as E3 rolls around, so I'll keep my eyes open.

The preview also covers Field Commander for the PSP, Untold Legends for the PS3 and the MMO Gods and Heroes. Wait a minute, SOE has an upcoming MMO named Gods and Heroes? Ah, okay, I see they are only acting as a co-publisher. If you're interested it is set in the times of ancient Rome with a heavy dose of mythology and is apparently focused on action-oriented, squad-based combat.

Well, since I wrote this post, SOE has the official sites up: Echoes of Faydwer and The Fallen Dynasty. There's some good info up there. Of note from the Faydwer page:

The Fae will have a new starting city, Kelethin.

Not only wil new profession hats, armor and horse mounts be available but a new slot for cloaks will be added. Obtaining special cloaks for your guild is also mentioned.

Adornments which provide bonuses to tradeskill items.

A belief system which grants quests and "minor miracles" based on your chosen deity. I'm interested to hear more about this.

As for Fallen Dynasty, there is a mention of solo and small group quest lines in addition to the expected heroic and epic stuff.

So far, so good, I would say.